You Better Watch Out (film)
'''You Better Watch Out '''is a Black Comedy Thriller/Horror film released on December 16, 2021. The film is based on the legends of Krampus, who is known as Santa Claus' evil half. The film was directed and written by Gary J. Brown and friends. The film follows a small group of people who accidentally reawaken Krampus, who goes on to hunt them down, not stopping until all of them are dead. Plot Single father of two kids Andrew Jones is driving to his ex-wife's home for Christmas. Once they finally make it there, he is greeted by his best friend from College, John Loeb. It's revealed that John was invited by Andrew's ex-wife, named Alexis Stone, to help with a prank she wants to pull off on both Andrew's kids and John's daughter. Meanwhile, Andrew's kids, Tobias and Rebeca, meet John's daughter, Mai, revealing that Tobias is quite rude, as he insults both his own sister and Mai. Their conversation ends very fast due to Tobias' actions. After this, Tobias and Mai are greeted by Alexis, their mother, who offers them to help make cookies. Tobias turns the offer down, but Rebeca is visibly excited by the offer. Later, Rebeca is helping make cookies just like Alexis promised while the rest sit in the living room in awkward silence, staring at Alexis' mother, Sandra, who has both eyes closed and is slumped over in her chair. Tobias and John end up getting into a debate on whether or not Sandra is dead, so to prove she isn't John begins throwing peanuts at her until she wakes up. Once she finally does, she is quite clearly surprised at the fact Andrew is here. Andrew reminds Sandra that he's been coming here every Christmas since the divorce, only for Sandra to reveal she thought Andrew was dead, and, in fact, wished he was. Before Andrew can respond, Alexis and Rebeca walk in, with Alexis telling Andrew to not say anything bad or Krampus could get him. The kids don't know what she's talking about, so Sandra begins explaining the legend of Krampus to the kids, ending it by telling everyone to "be good for goodness sake" or he'd come for them. Just then, all the lights go out and the window flies open as a figure in red begins crawling in, pointing at them and laughing. This terrifies Mai and Rebeca, but just upsets Tobias, who quickly pieces everything together and grabs "Krampus", pulling him inside and taking his hood off, revealing it to be John, who begins eating the cookies. All of the adults in the room burst into laughter, revealing that this was the prank Andrew and John were talking about. After this, John walks off to smoke, still laughing. Andrew follows him, revealing that everything John is wearing belongs to Andrew and he doesn't want it to smell like ash. Rebeca asks if anything they said about Krampus is true, with Tobias claiming there is no Krampus since there is no Santa Claus. This upsets Rebeca quite a bit, as she still believes in Santa and doesn't want him to skip their house. This leads to another argument where Tobias keeps stating that Santa Claus isn't real. This ends in Rebeca running out of the room, covering her ears and screaming. No one in the living room is happy with what Tobias has done, not even his own mother, so Tobias runs outside to sulk. He sits outside the door in the snow but becomes increasingly angrier until he lets out a scream to get it all out. His scream echoes through the night as the Carol of Bells plays over a zoom through the snow, stopping on a large snow pile. The pile is revealed to be a person, who gets up and cracks their neck. Later, Rebeca is still upset over her and Tobias' argument, deciding to ask Andrew if he was telling the truth. Seeing that Rebeca is quite obviously upset, Andrew tells her that Tobias is just upset that Santa isn't going to visit him this year for being bad, going on to joke that Krampus is going to get him. This cheers Rebeca up and she runs off while Andrew speaks with John. They have a short conversation where it's revealed Andrew thinks he still has feelings for Alexis. Meanwhile, Mai speaks with Tobias about his problems, revealing that Tobias is angry at everyone because of his parents' divorce. This ends in Mai opening up and revealing that her mother died shortly after she was born. Tobias tries to say something, but can't due to the shock. Mai then leaves, saying that it's beginning to snow. Once she's gone, Tobias snaps out of it, realizing that it's snowing. Which is very odd because before now this was the hottest night of the month. Back inside the house, everyone is sitting around singing carols when Tobias comes back in. He brings up the snow, but Andrew assures him it's fine and offers him a place to sit down. He does so, still put off by the snow outside. Rebeca, due to Tobias' comment on the snow, says she wants to make a snowman. John asks Mai to help her since the two haven't spoken to each other very often. The others continue their carols while Mai and Rebeca head outside. They begin making their snowman, with Rebeca singing Jingle Bells while doing so. However, she is cut off by a noticeable gasp from Mai. Wanting to see what's going on, Rebeca stands next to Mai, spotting a large hooded figure standing in the distance. Rebeca calls it out, thinking it is John, saying that he can't scare them twice with the same trick. However, it becomes clear the figure isn't John when he throws a large bleeding bag at them. The figure gestures for them to open up the bag, with Mai doing so very slowly, quite clearly shaking. It isn't shown what she sees, but it is apparently so horrifying that she lets out a scream before grabbing Rebeca and running back inside the house. Once they are both inside, Mai tells everyone what happened, though she can't bring herself to say what was in the bag. The others look outside, revealing that the bag is gone but the blood puddle it left behind is still there. Everyone is taken back by this, with John demanding to know what Mai saw. Mai is ready to say she doesn't know but is interrupted by Rebeca, who says they saw Krampus. She claims that Krampus is coming for them because they weren't good enough. Alexis tries to assure Rebeca that Krampus isn't real, only for all the lights to go out. Everyone begins panicking, but they are calmed down by Andrew, who says he'll go check the fuse box in the basement. However, after the story, he is afraid to go alone and asks John to come with him. He agrees to and they both head down into the basement with flashlights. Neither of them talks while walking down the stairs, too afraid to even banter. Once they finally make it to the bottom they hear strange noises coming from one corner of the basement. The Carol of the Bells once again plays as they shine a light in the corner, revealing Krampus standing in front of a small group of grey, deformed children. He points and they begin chasing the two, who run back up the stairs. John is grabbed and has his leg bitten by one of the children, breaking the skin. Andrew kicks it off him and begins kicking the children back down the stairs to allow John a chance to escape. Once John is all the way up, Andrew follows after, closing the door on the children. Andrew and John tell everyone about what they saw, causing everyone to panic. However, they are all shut up by a loud thumping noise that is getting louder and louder. The door handle begins to swirl, so to stop it from opening Tobias and Andrew begin pushing things in front of the door. This appears to work as the handle stops moving, only for a hand to burst out of the ground below them. It tries to reach for them, but Andrew begins stepping on it, but all this does is make it mad as the rest of Krampus' body bursts out of the ground. Luckily everyone manages to get out of the room in time, though they are split up as Alexis, Sandra and Mai run into the kitchen while Andrew, John, Tobias and Rebeca run upstairs. Krampus chases after Andrew's group, following them upstairs. But before Krampus can get his hands on them, Andrew finds a bat and smacks Krampus hard enough to send him back down the stairs. They all then run into a bedroom, pushing the bed in front of the door. Meanwhile, Alexis' group push the fridge in front of the door to keep Krampus out. Both sides wait for something to happen, but nothing does so they peak outside, revealing that Krampus has gone missing. The two groups reunite, deciding that upstairs is the best place to be as that way it will take Krampus longer to get to them. Everyone sits alone in a room, lighting candles to keep it bright. Andrew sits by the door with his bat in case anything happens while the others try to calm their nerves by singing Christmas carols again. John compliments Mai on her singing, only to reveal Mai isn't joining in on the singing. This confuses everyone so much they all stop singing, but the carol continues. They look out of the window, revealing a small group of grey children, "Ghouls" as Andrew calls them, singing outside. No one is sure what this means, so Andrew decides to go outside with his bat to find out. He opens the door, expecting the Ghouls to come for him, but they stay where they are. He runs towards them, hitting one of them hard enough to send it flying, causing them all to stop singing. The Ghouls point to him, calling him naughty before running inside the house. Andrew isn't sure how to react until he hears screaming. He runs back upstairs, bursting into the room and seeing the Ghouls attacking everyone. Andrew once again tries to fight the kids, only to be thrown back by a sudden explosion that knocks everyone out. After a minute or two, everyone wakes back up, revealing that there is no a blizzard outside and a large chunk of the wall is missing. Andrew thinks this isn't that bad as the Ghouls are gone, only for everyone to reveal John is missing. Everyone begins calling out for him, but they are all shut up when they hear singing again. They look out the hole and see the Ghouls once more, but this time they see something else. John is out there, completely grey and singing along with the Ghouls. Everyone is horrified at this, with Mai trying to jump out the hole after him but is stopped by Andrew who runs out the room with her while everyone else follows. Everyone was too afraid to go outside due to Krampus, but now all of them just want out so they run as fast as they can to their cars, only to reveal the tires have been cut. They all hide under the cars as they hear something coming. The car Sandra and Andrew are hiding under has something jump on top of it. Sandra, now crying, claims that "it's happening again". Andrew demands to know what she means, but she doesn't want to say. However, she is forced to when Andrew threatens to yell out and take her with him. Sandra tells a story from her childhood that is quite similar to their current situation, revealing that she once proclaimed that she hated Christmas and awoke Krampus, who slaughtered her friends in front of her. She managed to live until the next day which forced Krampus to leave as just like Santa he can only operate during Christmas. However, Andrew isn't sympathetic to Sandra, claiming she should've told them before now and that her telling everyone could've saved lives. Sandra agrees, claiming that she'll make it up to everyone, getting up from under the car and drawing attention to herself to distract Krampus while the rest run back inside to the basement, with Andrew being the only one who sees as Sandra is killed by Krampus, who slices her throat. Andrew claims that he'll hold Krampus off while everyone runs down to the basement, only for Mai to steal Andrew's bat and run out herself, charging through the Ghouls and beating Krampus until she is captured and turned in to a Ghoul herself. Andrew left with no other option, runs into the basement with the others, yelling about how unfair it is that they're being targeted, claiming that they aren't even that bad. However, Tobias speaks up claiming that he's bad. Tobias claims that if he never acted the way he did Krampus wouldn't be here and everyone would still be okay. Andrew tries to comfort Tobias, but there is once again a large explosion. Tobias wakes up, revealing that the entire house is gone and that he is in the middle of a blizzard. Tobias is called over by Andrew, who is with Rebeca. Tobias demands to know where Alexis is, with Rebeca revealing that Krampus got her. They realize there is nothing left for them to do, so they huddle up, promising that if they are going to die they'll die as a family. The blizzard suddenly stops, revealing Krampus and his full army of Ghouls standing in front of them. He pulls out his bag and opens it up, revealing that in his bag are souls. Specifically, the souls of all of his victims, as they can hear all of their dead friends' voices calling out for help. Andrew, realizing he has nothing left to fight back with, braces himself for death, only for Tobias to stand up and begin chewing Krampus out, ending it by demanding to know why Krampus is doing this. Krampus takes off his hood, revealing his extremely old and withered face as his Ghouls answer Tobias' question. The answer chills all of them to the bone. "Naughty". Tobias then demands Krampus to take him, claiming that the people he took weren't naughty, and he is the only one Krampus should take. Krampus pauses, considering Tobias' offer, so to make him agree Tobias offers to do something for Krampus that he claims Krampus looks like he could use. Tobias whispers his offer in Krampus' ear, which catches his attention. Krampus grabs Tobias in his cloak, as Andrew and Rebeca pass out from exhaustion. The next morning, Andrew wakes up in the house. He begins running around, revealing that everyone is alive again. He becomes extremely happy to see everyone, even confessing to still loving Alexis, much to her shock and delight. However, he notices that Tobias is missing, with everyone revealing that Rebeca told them what happened last night. This depresses Andrew, but everyone assures him that wherever Tobias is he's doing fine. The film then ends with a shot of what appears to be Krampus from behind, staring at the house with his Ghouls crowding around him as the Carol of the Bells plays for the final time. However, a camera pan reveals that the person under the hood is actually Tobias, who turns around and begins walking away with his Ghouls. Cast *Oscar Isaac as Andrew Jones *James Corden as John Loeb *Keira Knightley as Alexis Stone *Jane Lynch as Sandra Stone *Tom Holland as Tobias Jones *Eliza Faria as Rebeca Jones *Dove Cameron as Mai Loeb *Andy Serkis as Krampus Production The creator of the film, Gary J. Brown, always wanted to create a Christmas horror story, and he thought the best way to do so was to tell a Krampus story. It was quite hard to create a story about him and not have it come off as a knock-off of the 2015 Krampus film, though in the end, he believes he did a relatively good job. Brown did most of the writing for it, as he had some experience writing horror stories in the past during his free time. The film has very little CGI, with most of the action scenes being one continuous shot. This was done to mimic the first Evil Dead film, which was also a horror comedy, as in that film all the actors' fear and emotion seemed more real due the fact there were so many scenes filmed as one shot. Due to the lack of CGI and stunt men, a few actors actually got hurt, with one actor getting a bruise onset due to a stunt. According to Andy Serkis, Krampus' actor, during one scene he had to actually stand on top of a roof covered in fake snow in the middle of the night, which he describes as "terrifying". A Visit from Krampus A Visit from Krampus is a parody of the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas. The parody goes up to when Santa first shows up and ends there. It follows a child's encounter with Krampus and leaves it open as to whether or not they survived. When the story takes place is unknown. The story reads: "Twas the night before Christmas, noise echoed through the house. A creature was stirring and it wasn't a mouse. The house had gone through such a blight. I wish I hadn't been so naughty that night. I ran up back to my bed while horrible visions rushed through my head. Mama was gone, leaving just her bones. As I ran, the house filled with moans. Out on the lawn, I heard such clatter. It quickly became clear what was the matter. There he was, a wide grin on his face. He didn't notice me, as his boots he did lace. He began to walk away as the blizzard's snow blew, only to turn to the window as if knew. He pointed at me with the rage of a bull, and, out of nowhere, summoned a legion of ghouls. All of them look like he yearned for death's kiss. At that moment I knew... I was staring at Krampus." Reception The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, with most praising Andy Serkis' performance as Krampus. One critic was quoted as saying "the film doesn't take itself very seriously, and I think that was probably the best way to go considering the insane plot." Another called it "goofy, gory fun." However, there were obviously quite a few negative reviews, with the most common critique being that the plot of the film is far too ridiculous to get in to. Category:Films Category:Horror Category:Horror-Comedy Category:Black comedy Category:Christmas films